Balancing Hot water/radiators

[stevie-c]

My heating system has a manual balancing valve on the flow to the hot water cylinder which is only just open, hence the water takes a long time to heat and only gets to approx 55 degrees C (the radiators heat up fine). The engineer said it needs to be set that way to ensure there is sufficient flow to the radiators when both radiator and hot water circuits are in use. Is there a correct procedure to determine the correct position of the valve or is it just trial and error? Also if the flow is restricted too much when only the water circuit is on, is there a danger of damage to the system?

 

[Rincewind]

you can get pipe thermometer to strap on after the valve and adjust it to higher temp (60 degree c) this shouldnt affect heating.

 

[ChrisR]

The opening of the valve has little to do with the temperature the water will reach. A pipe thermometer would only tell you how hot the water coming from the boiler is.

Many if not most systems don't have a balancing valve and the rads still heat up at the same time as the hot water, though systems will vary.

To set the temperature of your hot water, assuming you have no thermostat on the cylinder, all you can do is regulate the boiler temperature - pretty unsatisfactory. There is a variety of valves which you can add to the pipework to control the water temperature; they are driven by a sensor which fixes to the cylinder. Some do not need electricity.